She's Come Undone

Twilight sat at her desk, asleep. She had been up late, studying. "Twilight?" Spike asked. "Twilight wake up."

"Wha- what? Why are you waking me up, Spike? It's early."

"It's 10:00, and I've made breakfast. Come eat."

Twilight groaned, and trudged over to the table where Spike had made her a plate of eggs and hay bacon. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"By the way, there's a package here for you from the princess."

Twilight paused. "Which one? There's three, not including me."

"Princess Celestia," Spike said, tossing it to her.

Twilight caught it expertly with her magic and placed it on the table.

"Are you gonna open it?"

"Can I eat first? If you want to know what inside so bad, you open it," Twilight said.

Spike picked it up and ripped it open with his claws, and read the letter out loud.

Dear Twilight,

After the changeling incident in the Crystal Empire, I have decided to increase security measures to prevent such a thing happening again. Enclosed is a changeling detector. I want you to use it to scan everyone in Ponyville. If you happen to find a changeling, I trust you to handle it however you see fit.

-Princess Celestia.

Twilight picked up the black plastic device. She pointed it at Spike and pressed the button. It beeped once, and the small screen flashed green. "Well, you're not a changeling," she sighed and took the last bite of her food. "So I guess I have to do this to everyone in Ponyville. Well there goes my afternoon. Not like I had anything planned anyways."

Several hours later, Twilight had scanned nearly every pony in Ponyville. She had yet to scan Fluttershy the and Apple family, as they lived rather out of the way. She headed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, when she ran into Fluttershy. "Oh hello Twilight. How are you today?" she asked

"Princess Celestia wants me to use this to detect changelings. You don't mind if I scan you, do you?" Twilight said

"Oh not at all. Whatever you need to do." Fluttershy said. Twilight pointed the device at Fluttershy. It beeped once and flashed green.

"You're good. I'd love to stay and chat, but I still have to go to Sweet Apple Acres."

At Sweet Apple Acres, Big Mac was out in the fields bucking apples. "Hey Big Mac?" Twilight said. He looked in her direction, but said nothing. "Is it cool if I scan you to make sure you're not a changeling?"

"Eeeyup," he said. Twilight pointed it at him. It beeped once, and the screen flashed green.

"Thanks," Twilight said. She walked up to the house and knocked on the door.

"Come in," an elderly voice said. Twilight walked into the kitchen to find Granny Smith and Apple Bloom washing dishes.

"Hello, Twilight," Granny Smith said.

"Can I scan you guys to make sure you aren't changelings?"

"Sure," they said. Twilight scanned both of them. It beeped once and flashed green. "Where's Applejack?" she asked.

"Upstairs." Apple Bloom said.

She walked up the stairs and found Applejack sweeping the hallway, humming a haunting melody to herself. "Applejack?"

"Oh, howdy Twilight. What's that thing you got there?"

"It's a changeling detector. Is it okay if I scan you?"

Applejack suddenly looked very nervous. "Do you think could uh... Not do that?"

"Why?"

"Can't you just trust me that I'm not a changeling?"

Twilight sighed. "Can you please just cooperate? It looks really suspicious if you-" Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. Applejack had jumped through a nearby window and was running faster than Twilight had ever seen her. "Applejack!" Twilight yelled.

Twilight opened up her wings and flew out the window after her. She was still a crummy flyer, and no match for the seemingly superhuman speed Applejack was traveling at. She decided she would have better luck chasing her on hoof. She was able to run faster than she could fly, but she would never catch Applejack at that rate.

She chased her all the way to town, and stopped when she saw Rainbow Dash. "Whoa!" Rainbow Dash said. "Did you see something orange and yellow zoom by you?"

"You have to help me catch Applejack!" Twilight said, out of breath. Immediately Rainbow took off, and while Applejack was fast, Rainbow was faster. She landed in front of Applejack, blocking her path. She turned the other direction, only to see Twilight standing there. Twilight pinned her down with her magic, and scanned her. It began beeping like crazy, and the screen flashed red. "She's a changeling!" Twilight yelled. Rainbow tackled her. "WHERE IS SHE?" she screamed. Twilight pulled her off.

'Applejack' transformed back into her true form, and sighed heavily. "All right. You caught me. Don't kill me please."

"I'm not going to kill you," Twilight said dragging her toward the library. "We have a few questions to ask you."

Dear Princess Celestia,

So it turns out a changeling has been impersonating Applejack. I'm handling it, but you may want to come down here, seeing as she's one of the Elements of Harmony.

-Twilight Sparkle

Celestia couldn't help but smile as she read the letter. Despite the dire circumstances, she was so happy to have received a letter from her former student for the first time in a very, very long time.

Derp.